Scouting at Skylands, my Home in Maine

April 13, 2010

Last Saturday, a group of us from the magazine, flew to Skylands, my home in Seal Harbor, Maine. Skylands is an amazing estate and we are planning on shooting another magazine story there. The purpose of our trip was a scouting mission to come up with a great detailed theme for the story. That mission was accomplished and of course, we cannot divulge any information at this time. Going through cupboards, the group really liked an unusual collection of pitchers in the shapes of fruits and vegetables. The pottery looks somewhat like majolica. Does anyone know what it might be?

: As is his nature, G.K. was calm and happy for the duration of the flight.

: Here we are approaching our destination. That’s Mound Desert Island in the back round.

: The Hancock County-Bar Harbor Airport is conveniently located half way between the City of Ellsworth and the Town of Bar Harbor. It overlooks Mount Desert Narrows, Frenchman Bay, and Mount Desert Island.

: Another view of the beautiful landscape

: Magnificent!

: Coming in for a landing over farmlands

: Francesca sitting on Kevin’s lap – she’s quite used to flying.

: Sharkey’s very relaxed on Zaki’s lap.

: For lunch, I made a yummy crab meat salad using a little homemade mayo.

: Food always tastes great at Skylands. This is a bowl of impeccably fresh lump crabmeat.

: We took many detail photos, like this one of my ironstone platters.

: The bench in the map room was designated for everyone’s day bags.

: In the great room, this cactus was having a problem, so I carefully cut it at its base.

: I was very cautious not to touch a single spine.

: The cactus was removed and discarded.

: It was a good, quick fix.

: I love this cactus garden growing in one of my faux bois cement planters.

: The leaded glass panes in this window have been removed for repair. Repairing leaded glass requires a good deal of skill.

: Skylands has many, many beautiful leaded glass windows. Fortunately, when Edsel Ford built this estate, he used the finest craftsmen and materials. Most of the windows are still in great shape.

: The group just loved this collection of fruit and vegetable pitchers. They look a bit like majolica and were part of the estate when I purchased Skylands.